Stop Complaining and Start Educating: Bridging the Gap Between Brand and Agency

As advertisers continue to produce more project and campaign-based work, agencies need to shift their thinking away from the traditional agency-of-record model. This model is predicated on the assumption that there is time to learn together, grow together, and build the trust and rapport that pays dividends in the future. As it turns out, the future is more immediate than we’d like.?

The future is now.

In this fast-paced media environment, we need to reduce friction while reducing overhead.

We need to bring brands into our world and make them feel closer to the work so that they understand not only where their investment is going but also how the work is done. We can eliminate the “easy out” when things go awry - the good ol’ blame the agency excuse - by nixing communication barriers between brands and agencies and making stakeholders privy to the creative process and decisions that comprise it.

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar: creative terms like script and animatic get thrown around but how these components influence the work isn’t always understood in the same way by the client. Nevertheless, the work gets approved and suddenly a rough cut of a project is shown. The client immediately reacts because they can’t see the forest through the trees; they imagine how the world may respond to this work in its (unfinished) state, and enter a panic mode. Now, they’re consumed with “salvaging” instead of solving. They attempt to correct "mistakes" instead of articulating clearly what doesn't work.

Of course, this is not completely their fault. They have stakeholders to report to and feel the pressure of the approval chain. They also don't have a grasp on the language or the process of creative. Regardless, the agency finds itself in a catch-22: do we follow the feedback prescribed right now and give the brand precisely what they are asking for? Or do we push back and ask for more time so that we may reassess the problem and adequately suggest solutions that get us the right result? If the latter sounds preferable then...

Education is key.

Eliminate the layers that separate brands from the actual creatives doing the work.

At Bokeh, we do this by removing account managers and project managers, who have only a peripheral knowledge of the creative process, from client-facing interactions. Instead, brands communicate directly with an integrated producer and associate creative director. This duo is responsible for the day-to-day development of a project. Additionally, this team of two plays a fundamental role in bridging the gap between brand and agency by using their intimate knowledge of creative to guide a brand through every phase of a campaign's development.

In other words, we empower brands by teaching them how agencies do their work. We communicate the terms they need to know and walk them through rough cuts. We dig for visual examples because every individual's imagination works differently. We bring them into our world.

It’s time for agencies to meet brands where they’re at and vice versa. A brand might have fragments of necessary knowledge about what the agency is doing, but why not take it straight to the source? In so doing, we can better educate brands through the misunderstandings and jargon, avoid spinning gears on unnecessary “fixes,” and come together to identify solutions that stay true to the intended outcome.

Optimizing your operational structure and company culture for brand education removes many of the pain points present in the brand<->agency relationship.

Unnecessary overhead, wasted time and resources, and pricing disagreements can all become nonissues.

When agencies effectively teach brands what's involved in the work as well as how to communicate?a brand's concerns into discernable creative actionables, agencies also increase efficiency. Even if this education process requires extra time and expense upfront, it is arguably a better use of said time and money. Otherwise, these resources would likely have been expended to correct mistakes and support overhead.

It’s estimated that 40% of all media spend is wasted. Why should your brand be included in that? The agency is not the enemy. They share the same goals: to create something wonderful that reflects the brand's message and resonates with audiences. So, in sum:

1. Get the brief right
2. Empower brands with the knowledge they need to see a project in the same light as the agency
3. Providing the tools for brands to communicate across stakeholders

When done right, this reinforces camaraderie and trust between brand and agency that ultimately will reflect through the work as positively on the agency as it does on the brand, if not more.